Joe Beuerlein: August Wilson's "Fences"
This Thursday night, The Clarence Brown Theatre at the University of Tennessee will present something never before seen on one of their professional stages: an August Wilson play. Fences, Wilson's Tony, Pulitzer, and Drama Desk winning masterpiece, deals with race relations and the African-American experience of 1950s Pittsburgh, as witnessed by the fictional Maxson family.
August Wilson is best known for Fences (1985) and his other popular works, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1982) and The Piano Lesson (1989), which also won the Tony, Pulitzer, and Drama Desk awards. What audiences may not know is that these works are part of a ten-play cycle that chronicle the social issues of African -Americans in the Unites States over the span of the 20th century. Each play, in fact, takes place in a different decade, and nine of the ten pieces take place in Pittsburgh. Characters in these plays often appear in more than work, as do the specific locations the characters inhabit.
The CBT's new Artistic Director, Calvin MacLean, had a hand in picking this year's selections back last spring when he accepted his job offer here. As I learned when I interviewed him this past fall, MacLean wants to make sure that the Clarence Brown fulfills not only its role as a professional regional theatre, but also its role in supplying quality theatre for different interests, whether they be "a little offbeat or unusual or experimental or student-centered." As for Fences, Maclean thinks that "it's about time that [the play] gets done" here. Read the rest of my interview with Calvin Maclean here.
Fences is directed by Ron Himes, a visiting director who hails from The Black Rep in St. Louis where he is the Producing Director. The cast is comprised wholly of Equity actors, including Horace E. Smith III, who was seen last year as Jim in the CBT's production of Big River. Fences previews this Thursday, and has its opening night Friday at 8 p.m. Check our listings for ticket prices and information. The play will run through Sunday, February 11th.
Ron Himes, Director